Benjamin Wachs: Cliven Bundy is committing treason

Thursday

May 1, 2014 at 4:39 PMMay 1, 2014 at 4:39 PM

By Benjamin Wachs

So let me get this straight. A rancher out in Nevada has been refusing to pay grazing fees for letting his cattle eat public land for 20 years. After losing four court battles he has announced that he does not recognize the United States government, and that he will shoot designated officers of the law if they come to enforce the court orders.In what way is this not treason?I know that’s a heavy word to throw around, but I really can’t figure this out: The guy refuses to recognize the U.S. government, has effectively confiscated a small stretch of U.S. territory and is threatening to kill members of U.S. law enforcement.That’s treason, right? The only way it could be more treasonous is if he actually did what he is threatening to do, and killed a cop or shot a soldier.It shouldn’t matter who the president is, but let’s be clear about this: Cliven Bundy was refusing to pay grazing fees under President Bush and President Clinton. The fees he’s refusing to pay were signed into law by President Reagan.We live in a country where law enforcement can legally stop and frisk, or wire tap, or even detain a person because they look like they might at some point do something wrong. Yet here we have a man who is explicitly committing a crime and refusing to recognize the U.S. government and threatening to shoot members of law enforcement.If Bundy were mounting a peaceful protest — a nonviolent effort to promote land use rights in the West — he’d still have to recognize the authority of the United States, but we could go easy on him, because he wasn’t threatening to kill cops. But he is.Why are we not standing behind the men and women who defend us? Why are we not being tough on crime? Why are we not being tough on terror?There are no constitutional principles to defend Bundy’s actions. When farmers refused to acknowledge the right of the federal government to tax their activities in 1791, President George Washington called on 13,000 troops to break their revolt and enforce federal law. Our literal founding father used force to end a rebellion and support the federal government’s right to levy taxes.When the leaders of the Whiskey Rebellion that Washington put down were charged, incidentally, they were charged with high treason. Because that’s what that was, and that’s what this is. Treason against the United States of America.Is a country at war against terror really soft on treason?We shouldn’t be. Cliven Bundy should be in prison, as should anyone who joined him in his disavowal of the government and threats to law enforcement. His assets should be forfeited and the debts he has accrued to the American public paid.He might not have to do time. Washington pardoned by some of the leaders of the Whiskey Rebellion (who had been sentenced to hang — because, after all, they’d committed treason). It would be gracious of President Obama to do the same.But first we need to defend the legitimacy of the American government, and our constitution. And if that goes badly for Cliven Bundy — well, he is a traitor as surely as if he’d joined Al-Qaeda.Benjamin Wachs writes for Messenger Post Media and archives his work at www.TheWachsGallery.com. Email him at Benjamin@Fiction365.com.